But Bowden said , " Harvestime was when Anora first told you she'd chosen Farold . Your conveniently losing your blade at that time shows just how long you've been planning this . "
" No ! " Selwyn cried . Could they misconstrue and twist everything ?
Bowden handed the knife away , and it once more passed from person to person , a circuitous route back to the table , since everyone wanted to see it . " Where were you last night ? " Bowden asked .
Selwyn hesitated , knowing the truth would hurt him . "Home , " he lied . " Just as my father tried to tell you . "
There was a reaction in the room to that : an insubstantial sigh that rippled over the crowd .
Selwyn guessed a moment before Bowden Announced : " You were seen , boy . "
He considered denying it , on the chance that Bowden was bluffing , or that there was only one witness , one who might not be sure , or reliable . But he'd already miscalculated and proven to those assembled that he would lie , which was a worse blow than any they'd dealt him . Aware of the pain on the face of his father , whom he had aslo made a liar of , he nodded . " Yes , " he admitted . " All right . I was out at night . Early . But I didn't go anywhere near the mill , and I didn't kill Farold . " All of which was true . " Did whoever saw me say I was near the mill ?" If they had , they were lying , though he had no way to prove that . But it would be good to know exactly where he stood .
Bowden held his hand up to keep anyone in the room from answering . " I'll ask the questions , " he said . " Were you or weren't you near the mill ? "
" I was not , " Selwyn said . He saw Bowden was going to ask , anyway , so he told all of it , working hard to keep his voice steady : " No closer than we came today , from the farm to here . "
The ripple that passed through the crowd was more distinct this time , a murmur of voices .
" Here ? " Bowden asked with a glower at his daughter that said he would speak to her later , if this turned out to be true .
" I saw Anora at the market yesterday morning . She ...... " He hesitated , not wanting to get her into trouble ; and , after all , said was too strong a word . " She indicated that , if I came ....... " He started again , hoping the words would be easier if he came at them from a different direction . " She gave the impression that ...... She seemed to think she might have made a mistake in agreeing to marry Farold . I thought ...... if I could just talk to her privately , she might break off the betrothal . "
The room burst into an uproar .
" Oh , Selwyn , " Anora said , her voice little more than a sigh , and immediately the noisy speculation stopped so that people could hear . " I never said that . "
" No , " Selwyn agreed . " But we talked , and you ...... you ...... " He thought of her sweet smile and the way she would tip her head up to look at him , for --- short as he was --- she was tiny . Distracted , he tried to remember exactly what she had said .
" I was trying to be kind , " she said , sympathy in her pale blue eyes . " You looked so sad when I told you I was to marry Farold , and then after he held you down in Orik's tavern and poured ale all over you then dropped you in the midden pile ...... "
Thanks for reminding me , Selwyn was tempted to say . I'd almost forgotten how bad it was .
Anora finished , " I was always fond of you and I didn't want to hurt your feelings . But I never said to come last nihgt . "
" No , " he admitted , " but I thought ...... " He looked away from her , to the floor . Obviously , he had thought wrong .
Bowden said to Anora , " So did you see him last night or no ? "
" No , " Anore answered .
Bowden turned to Selwyn .
" I threw pebbles at the shutter over the window , " Selwyn told Bowden , " but I was afraid of waking you or your wife . So I stopped . "
" I must have been asleep , " Anora said . " I never heard . " She added , " But I believe you . "
Selwyn feared she was the only one who did .
Bowden sighed in exasperation . " We don't know what time of night Farold was killed , " he reminded everyone , " Whether or not Selwyn did stop here first . Or after . We only know he was killed sometime between supper --- after which Linton left and Derian went upstairs to bed --- and before Linton returned at dawn . "
" Long enough for the body to start to stiffen , " Linton explained , self-importantly since he'd been the one to discover the deed , " but not to smell . "
" Well , in this heat it will have started to smell by now , " someone in the room commented , a loud whisper that carried .
Anora gave a wail and ran outside , the only way to get away from all the eyes that turned to catch her reaction . Her mother followed close on her heels .
" Thank you very much , Orik , " Bowden said .
Orik shrugged sheepishly . No doubt he was cranky that this huge crowd was accumulated in Bowden's house , rather than at Orik's tavern --- where he could have been selling food and drink to everyone .
It went on like that a little longer , people commenting and offering opinions , and few of them believing a word Selwyn said . Perhaps it would have been different if he hadn't started by lying , but there was no way to know and nothing he could do now .
By midafternoon , those few who professed to be unsure --- mostly Selwyn's age-mates and , unexpectedly , Holt the blacksmith --- were overruled by the majority , who proclaimed that Selwyn was assuredly guilty . Guilty because he had cause to hate Farold , because it was his knife that had done the deed , and because --- even thought no one had actually seen him climbing through Farold's window --- he had been in the village at about the right time . It was enough .
The law required a life for a life , but no one in the village had been executed in living memory . Some argued that he should be sent to the bigger town of Saint Hilda , where there was a regular magistrate who could oversee the carrying out of the sentence . But it was pointed out that the magistrate would probably demand his own investigation , which everyone agreed was pointless ; and he'd want to see the body .
And that would be dangerous . The village of Penryth was too small to have its own priest and depended on the occasional wandering friar to bless weddings , babies , and the dead . But to leave an unblessed body unburied by nightfall --- expecially the body of a murdered man --- was asking for trouble . No matter what the church said , the people knew there were night spirits eager to make a vacant body their own . Farold needed to be buried soon .
That was how they got the idea to solve two problems at once : " We will go up to the hills , " Bowden proclaimed in his best official voice , which Selwyn had always thought sounded as though he had a pain in his lungs . We will go to the burial caves , and there we will seal the dead victim in the tomb with his living murdered --- Farold and Selwyn together . "
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